The Local Loyalty Project

+

Can positioning a regional

grocery chain as a purveyor of

local foods increase customer

loyalty and local foods sales?

Molly De Marco, PhD MPH, Beth Hopping, & Kemp Watson-Ormond

American Public Health Association Annual Meeting

New Orleans, LA

November 17, 2014

The Local

Loyalty Project

This material is based upon work

supported by the National Science

Foundation Graduate Research

Fellowship Program under Grant

No. DGE-1144081

+ Presenters Disclosure

We have no relationships to disclose.

+ NC Growing Together – Consumer

Research

The goal is to investigate consumer behavior in

retail groceries to learn whether there are

promotions/interventions that can motivate

consumers to purchase more locally grown

foods

Working with a regional grocery store chain

interested in building its reputation as a local

purveyor

Project 1: Evaluation of Local Days

Celebrations

Project 2: Local Loyalty Promotion testing

+ ‘Local Loyalty’ Project

Previous research indicates that consumers

perceive local foods to benefit their

community

Not always aware of the local foods available in

their grocery store

Cultivating the demand for local food at

grocery retailers embeds them in the

communities they serve

Strengthening the loyalty of their consumer base

+ Intervention Strategies

Multiple interventions (“promotions”) being tested

Primary chain: 3 intervention stores; 3 matched

comparison stores

Low-cost chain: 3 intervention stores; 3 matched

comparison stores

Each disseminated for 1 month followed by 2-week

washout period

Promotions:

Social Norms Approach

Economic Messages

Farm Stand

Others in development for the low-cost chain

+ Data Collection

Emailed pre/post surveys conducted among “loyalty” shopper

panel

Frequent shoppers with store loyalty cards

Measuring intention to purchase local foods and self-reported local

purchasing (previous 30 days)

Store sales data will track local meat, dairy, seafood, and total

produce

Produce managers will provide each store’s purchasing totals

Estimates of local vs. nonlocal produce sales

Process evaluation strategies will determine acceptability of

promotion strategies

In-store intercept surveys & store observations (intervention fidelity)

Panel surveys (e.g., “Did you see this sign? If yes, where?”)

Store manager feedback

+ Social Norms Promotion

The Social Norms Approach is effective for

influencing individuals’ behaviors within a

group

Successfully used to reduce binge drinking on

college campuses

A novel approach for influencing consumer behavior

in a grocery store

Influence individuals to engage in the desired

behavior (purchasing local products) because

they wish to comply with the social norm

+ Social Norms Promotion

Collected data through in-store consumer intercept

surveys (3 short questions):

1. Do you prefer to buy locally grown foods (produce, meat, dairy,

seafood) when they are available?

2. If yes, why do you prefer to buy locally produced food?

3. Which of the above is your primary reason for preferring to buy

locally produced foods?

Developed social norming messages based on

consumer surveys

E.g., “The #1 reason Chapel Hill shoppers prefer to buy locally

grown food is to support North Carolina farmers.”

Created grocery cart signs and place in the store

+ Social Norms Approach

Messages

3 simple messages about

consumers selecting local

products

Displayed in grocery

carts

Consumers will see

message on the inside of

their cart and outside of

other shoppers’ carts

Subtle yet high level of

exposure

Grocery cart signage

+ Economic Benefits of Buying

Local Promotion Messages test whether shoppers are swayed to

purchase local foods if they better understand the

economic impact to their communities

Signs placed in grocery store carts with one of these

three messages:

1) WHY BUY LOCAL? Spending on local food keeps YOUR money in

YOUR community.

2) WHY BUY LOCAL? Every $1.00 spent on LOCAL food = $1.63

TOTAL spending in YOUR community.

3) WHY BUY LOCAL? Your {store name} sold over $XX in local

produce last year. More LOCAL means more of that $$ stays in

YOUR community.

+ Farm Stand Within a Store

Promotion

Often difficult for customers to find local

products in a large grocery store

Customers may not be aware of the types of

local products available

Placing all local produce in one location

may make it easier for the shopper to

find and buy local products

Signage to prominently label the display

as local produce

Customers may be attracted to a display

of all local produce

+ Consumer Panel Surveys

To determine the effectiveness of our promotions, we first

collected baseline data from 282 participants (41% response

rate) from the 3 intervention & 3 comparison stores.

E.g., level of consumer intention to purchase local foods before exposure

to promotions

Surveys are emailed to store customers directly by the company’s

contractor.

Customers must meet the following criteria:

shopped at the store in the last 30 days

at least 18 years of age

English-speaking

has an email address on file

Follow-up surveys are distributed after each promotion to

determine effectiveness of the promotion

Food Store Customer Baseline Data Collection

The first questions we have are about your shopping habits and reasons for choosing to shop for groceries where

you do. You can skip any questions you do not want to answer. Your answers will be confidential.

1. How often do you shop at [store]?

Every time I shop for groceries

Most of the time

Sometimes

Almost never

Never

*This is my first time at a X Food Store (for in-store data collection only)

2. Why do you shop at [store]? (Check all that apply)

It’s a North Carolina-based company

It’s affordable

It sells local products

It’s close to where I live

It’s where all my friends/family shop

Its products are good quality

For their sales or events

Other:

I don’t usually shop at Lowes

3. It seems to me that [store] makes local food a priority.

1 - strongly disagree 2 - disagree 3 - no opinion 4 - agree or 5 - strongly agree

4. [Store] stocks more local food than other grocery stores.

1 - strongly disagree 2 - disagree 3 - no opinion 4 - agree or 5 - strongly agree

5. [Store} is an important part of my community.

1 - strongly disagree 2 - disagree 3 - no opinion 4 - agree or 5 - strongly agree

+ Demographics of Customer Panel

at Baseline

51.8% live in a two-person household

73.4% live in a household with NO children under 18

Skews to older respondents – 80% over age 45

96% white; 2.5% African American

<1% Hispanic/Latino respondents

85% female

Most respondents reported an annual household income

between $50,000 and $150,000

+ Baseline Reasons for Shopping

The most common responses for why

customers shop at the grocery store chain

were (could choose more than one answer):

Its close to where I live (64%)

For their sales or events (62%)

Its products are good quality (56%)

It sells local products (43%)

+ Baseline Feelings About the Store

84.75% of respondents agree or strongly agree that the

grocery store supports local farmers and food producers

70% agree or strongly agree that shopping at the grocery

store directly impacts their community’s local economy

67% agree or strongly agree that shopping at the grocery

store supports farmers in their community

63% agree or strongly agree that the grocery store is an

important part of their community

61% agree or strongly agree that the grocery store connects

community members with local farmers and food producers

60% agree or strongly agree that the grocery store makes

local food a priority

+ Baseline Attitudes About Buying

Local

45% of respondents say they buy locally grown,

caught, or produced foods “most of the time” and

43% “sometimes”

86% of respondents agree or strongly agree that it

is important to buy local foods

93% of respondents prefer to buy local produce

over non-local produce. Respondents generally

prefer to buy local meat, dairy, and seafood, but

not as strongly as they prefer to buy local produce

+ Exposure to first promotion

When asked, “Have you seen store promotions (e.g., signs) encouraging the purchase of local foods in your [store]?” (Y/N)

Mean “Yes” response in test stores = 91.73%

Mean “Yes” response in comparison stores = 79.64%

% Yes

Chapel Hill 63.16%

Greensboro *73.21%

Sanford 82.14%

Hickory 63.75%

Mooresville 73.33%

Morehead City 66.67%

“Have you seen a [farm stand]

display like this in your [store]

promoting local produce?” (Y/N)

*Correctly identified

+

Low percentage of respondents who reported seeing correct

messaging in their store

Economic Social Norms Economic Sham Sham

Chapel Hill 23.5% *11.8% 0.0% 23.5% 17.7%

Greensboro 30.0% 14.0% 6.0% 16.0% 20.0%

Sanford *18.5% 3.7% *14.8% 14.8% 18.5%

Hickory 14.3% 7.1% 2.9% 21.4% 12.9%

Mooresville 29.2% 12.5% 4.2% 12.5% 12.5%

Morehead City 33.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 6.7%

*Correctly identified

Exposure to first promotion

Also low percentage accurately reporting where they saw the

messages (i.e., grocery cart sign)

+ Lower-cost store consumer

research Test the promotions in the lower-cost stores where the same

renovations and re-branding will not contaminate the research to

learn:

How can we strengthen ties between NC farmers and lower-income

consumers?

How can we increase the amount of fresh, locally produced, healthy

foods available to lower-income consumers?

Work in 3 “test” stores & 3 “comparison” stores, matched for

important characteristics

Starting with in-depth interviews with customers of the 3

intervention stores to inform the promotions

Conduct baseline consumer surveys

Implement multiple promotions

E.g., Social Norms Approach + economic messaging, Produce

Packs, local product placement.

Conduct follow-up surveys to determine effectiveness of

promotions

+ Produce Packs Promotion (low-

cost stores only)

Produce from small, local farmers bundled into dollar

amounts corresponding to WIC Cash-Value Voucher

amounts

Marketed to WIC/SNAP clients and others

Facilitates healthy cooking (FV consumption)

Has the potential to significantly elevate consumption of

locally grown fruits and vegetables while modeling a new

pathway between local growers and consumers in low-

income areas

+ Challenges of working with

grocery store chains

The corporate structure can be

complicated to navigate to obtain

permissions

Contamination of ‘Local Loyalty’

promotions by other store activities

+ Questions?

Molly De Marco

molly_demarco@unc.edu

www.ncgrowingtogether.org